


Shadows from the past

by watchreadwrite



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 02:12:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6034177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchreadwrite/pseuds/watchreadwrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team Scorpion gets a new case and Toby originally calls it "a childhood dream come true", but then he learns that this particular case involves someone from his past and Happy and Toby have to figure out what that means for their new relationship.<br/>Post "Fractured"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A new case

**Author's Note:**

> Dear readers,
> 
> this is my first fanfiction ever. My first language isn't English, so I hope I didn't make too many mistakes...
> 
> I hope you enjoy the story and leave a comment/review below!
> 
> Yours,  
> watchreadwrite

“We have a case!” announced Cabe, when he came into the garage. He looked quite serious and went straight to Walter to hand him a small flash drive.

At the time Toby was sitting at his workplace, his legs rested casually on the desk, while he was reading one of his psychiatry books. As soon as he heard Cabe’s typical announcement, he threw the book aside, jumped up and went to the small table in front of the monitors, where they usually did their briefings.

Happy and Sylvester stopped their rather heated discussion about the changes on the life vest Sly had mentioned earlier. In fact he was relieved that Cabe’s entrance had suddenly interrupted their talk, because Happy had taken his simple suggestion a little bit too seriously and was giving him a hard time explaining.

“Good morning,” Paige said and when she looked at Cabe’s facial expression she added quickly, “do you want some coffee?” She may wasn’t a waitress any more, but she knew very well when a man needed his fuel.

The Homeland agent smirked at her: “No, thanks. This case will temper with my blood pressure enough. I shouldn’t add coffee to the mix.”  

“What’s up?” Toby asked. “You look like someone stole your favorite toy.”

Cabe looked at him even more stressed out than he already was. “This isn’t some joke. Our new case comes directly from assistant director Cooper and its top secret. We have to handle this whole mess very professional.” When the agent talked he looked specifically at Toby, who was sitting on the table.

“Cabe,” Walter announced while he joined the team and various information filled the screens behind the agent’s back. “We are a group of professionals now. We handled a lot of risky jobs during the last year, proved our value to the authorities and we are working at peak efficiency.”

“Walter’s right,” Toby added with a smug grin on his face, before he turned into “Dr. Curtis” by saying: “Don’t worry so much. You don’t get any younger and too much stress can cause burnout and is one contributing factor for cardiac diseases.”

Happy, who was next to Toby, poked him hard into the side to shut him up without anyone noticing. But Toby winced and shrieked dramatically. “Ouch! My kidney!“

“Maybe we should concentrate on the case,” Paige interjected.            

“She is right,” Walter agreed and pointed at the screens in front of them. “What’s all this about? On the stick you gave me are loads of files about Homeland operations, personnel and reports about possible targets on US soil. I don’t see the connection.”   

“Yeah, Walt has a point,” Sly mentioned while he was reading some of the files on Walters laptop. “I already looked at 32 percent of the data, but I can’t figure out a logical correlation between these pieces of information.”

Team Scorpion looked at Cabe who now started the actual briefing. “There is only one valid connection between the files you are looking at. All of them were stored on a hard drive that belongs to Homeland agent Richard Baker. He is very important for many ongoing Homeland investigations and supervises a bunch of highly trained task forces. Yesterday the hard drive was stolen from his briefcase and when it was found several hours later in a garbage bin it was deleted. No physical evidence was found on the hard drive, the briefcase or the garbage bin. Security cameras didn’t record the perpetrator either. That’s were we come in.”

“Let me get this straight,” Happy said after Cabe’s short summery. “Homeland wants us to investigate the person who stole the hard drive?”

“Yes, but it is more complicated than that, because we have to work on various quarters at the same time,” Cabe explained. “First of all it’s very important to get this information back, we have to prevent that this intel is sold to the highest bidder on some dark net side or whatever. Second of all we have to find the person who is behind this security breach. As fast as possible.”

“That won’t be that big of a deal,” Walter interjected immediately. “I am sure Sly and I can write a program to search for evidence of the data you gave us, so we can detect any attempt of selling it or reveal a potential whistleblower. As a consequence we would also find the person who is behind all of this.” Before Cabe could respond Walter and Sylvester rearranged their laptops on one of their workplaces and began with coding some algorithms.

“Aren’t there any suspects already?” Paige asked. “You can’t tell me that there is no ongoing investigation by Homeland or FBI agents regarding this matter.”

“Maybe the relevant authorities could mail us some files of their suspects and I could make a quick psychoanalysis to find the perpetrator,” Toby suggested eagerly.  

“There are no other agents investigating this particular case,” Cabe told the team, “because only a handful of people know about this. Namely agent Baker and his head of security, assistant director Cooper, I and now you. Like I mentioned before, it’s top secret.”

Now Toby narrowed his eyes, while reading Cabe’s tense body language. “There is something else,” he stated.

“Indeed, there is,” Cabe admitted, “and you won’t like it.”

“Spill it!” Happy demanded, while Cabe shot a glance at Paige to give her a hint that her special skills would be necessary today.

“Baker is an old protégée of Merrick. Cooper requested our assignment to the case, because she doesn’t trust him completely. Since last month Baker is forming a new task force with a focus on counterterrorism and the hard drive was stolen within the restricted area of the training facility. Only limited personnel had access to the building where Baker was working with his team. Mainly Baker, his security team, his personal assistant, the team itself and a small group of doctors, psychiatrists and scientists who monitor the mental and physical condition of the participants.”

“When you said top secret, you really meant it” Happy stated dryly.

“So what is our task exactly?” Paige asked, a little bit confused by Cabe’s unusual secretiveness.

“We are assigned to find the mole” Toby answered full of delight. “That’s awesome! We are going to infiltrate this small group of people without telling them our true agenda and everyone within the walls of this highly secured government training facility can be our man – or woman, of course. It will be like our own spy movie!”

In between Toby’s little outburst Sylvester stopped typing on his laptop. He had a terrified look on his face, when he addressed Cabe. “Please, tell me Toby is exaggerating and we are not going to put ourselves in close proximity to a potential traitor.”

“Oh my god, Sly!” Toby exclaimed. “Don’t be such a pansy! This is going to be like a childhood dream come true.” Happy rolled her eyes dramatically, even tough there was a hint of a smile on her lips.

“This is no game,” Cabe told the shrink seriously. “We have to be very careful with our investigations. Nobody can know about the security breach or our investigation.”

While Cabe was lecturing an overly excited Toby, Sylvester tried to calm himself by steady breathing and touching the first aid band he was wearing on his ring finger. Like always thinking of Megan gave him inner strength even if his pulse was a little bit off.

“Focus, guys”, Paige intervened. “If we really want to be successful we need a waterproof plan this time.”

“Paige is right”, Walter agreed and began to state some more facts. “Cabe, we need detailed information on all people who had access to agent Baker and his briefcase.”

“You already have everything Homeland has on them on the flash drive I gave you,” Cabe answered.

Walter nodded and went on: “Toby, you are going to study them and prepare a profile on any member of this project. Paige you can help him as well to figure out who we can connect with.”

Toby immediately grabbed Walters laptop and sent the data to his own, while his boss told Happy: “We have to study the layout of the building and the surrounding area and we also have to pack some equipment to enhance the surveillance.”

“I’m on it”, she answered and Cabe gave her some blueprints and other documents regarding the training facility.

“Sly and I are going to finish the program to track the pieces of information and we can also try to find out if someone messed with the surveillance on sight”, Walter finished.

The whole team was busy with their handed tasks. Sly and Walter were coding as fast as they could. Happy studied the blueprints and from time to time she put some tools into a large bag to take them on the mission. Toby was still very excited and went eagerly through the files of the employees and task force members to find a weak spot. Paige sat next to him with the other half of the documents, when Cabe said gravely: “There is something else.”

In that exact moment Toby spotted a very familiar name, when he opened the document on the medical staff. “Holy crap”, he exclaimed.

Paige looked wondering at him and his bewildered expression, when she spotted the name as well. “Amy Berkstead-Carter, leading psychiatrist” was written on top of the page he was reading.


	2. Tension

Without a word Toby stood up and walked out of the garage.

Happy followed him with her eyes and suppressed the instinct to go after him immediately. Some feeling in her gut told her, that she needed to know what ticked him off before she could walk after him. Aside from that she didn’t want the others to recognize that something important had changed between the two of them. She wasn’t ready to talk about their relationship with the others. She wasn’t even sure if she would ever be ready to talk about all of her feelings.

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Paige confronted Cabe like only a mother could. “You knew this would be hard on him.”

“Yeah, I know”, Cabe agreed. “But there were more important things to talk about.“

Paige didn’t look very convinced and Happy got a little bit impatient. “So tell us already. Why is the doc suddenly so upset with his ‘childhood dream’.”

“The leading psychiatrist on this project is someone from Toby’s past”, Cabe admitted.

“What’s the big deal?” Happy wanted to know. “I mean he even applied for a job in Quincy Berkstead’s department at the university to get a mission done. And this man is his declared nemesis! Who much worse can it be this time?”

Paige and Cabe both looked at each other a little more worried than before, while Walter stood up and read the file Toby had opened a few minutes ago.

“It’s Amy,” he stated calmly.

“His ex-fiancé Amy?” Sly asked just to be sure.

Walter nodded for confirmation, while Paige studied Happy closely. For a second the usually unimpressed face of the mechanical engineer looked shocked, but when Paige blinked the expression was gone and Happy stated dryly: “Not good.”  

 

* * *

 

Happy wasn’t sure what the others were talking about exactly, because after the big announcement that Toby’s ex-fiancé was involved in their latest case her mind went blank. For the first time in her adult life she had decided to take a risk and let this crazy shrink in her life – not only as a best friend, or a lover – but as a boyfriend for god’s sake. They hadn’t even been together for long. And now everything went downhill.

Suddenly Happy recognized that she was really nervous, confused and had to think. Without a word she left the garage and found herself in the back alley, where Toby was standing beside his truck. His back was turned towards her and she had some kind of déjà vu.

Last year when Sly had been injured the two of them had been in the same alley, talking about the docs fears of losing one of his closest friends. So much had happened since then. Happy closed her eyes for a minute and took a deep breath.  

“Hey Doc” Happy approached him like everything was perfectly normal even if she had the feeling the world had been turned upside down.

Toby looked at her rather clueless. He felt extremely uncomfortable, but he didn’t want her to worry, so he tried to ignore his feelings. “Hey Hap,” he responded and suddenly grabbed her hand like he was afraid she could simply walk away. For a second he thought that she would resist, but she stepped a little closer so that they were standing right in front of each other and he smiled a little.

“Let’s take the car and drive to the beach,” he suggested. “We could stop at Kavelski’s and grab some sandwiches and soft drinks and make a picnic near the ocean. The two of us didn’t have a lot of free time since Scorpion made it; we deserve a day off from time to time.” Happy didn’t look very approving, so he rambled on: “Or we could visit some of your salesmen and try to find that vintage engine you’re searching for. And when we get back we get takeout and watch some movies on my couch. Maybe afterwards we have time for hanky-panky, who knows.”

“Sounds nice” Happy had a tiny smile on her face. ”But we both know that that’s not going to happen today.”

“Why not?” Toby was absently caressing her hand with his thumb. “We are two adults we can do whatever we want.”

Happy shook her head gently. “If we don’t get this Homeland intelligence back in time innocent people could get hurt. You don’t want that.”

“Walter and Sly are going to handle it. They’ll track the data as soon as it’s put online.” He didn’t want to let go of his illusion.

“We also have to find the person behind all of this. That’s your job, numb nut” she reminded him.

“Okay,” he agreed. “But when this is over we take the weekend off and do something nice. Promise?”

“Promise,” Happy answered and when they went back to the garage they were still holding hands like they were afraid of letting go.

 

* * *

 

Cabe, Paige and Toby were driving in a SUV to the Homeland Training Center. The whole drive had been rather quiet and the behaviorist had only looked at the files of the most likely targets, when Paige tried to talk to him.

“If you want to talk about it, I’m there for you,” she simply stated.

“Talk about what?” Toby wasn’t even looking at her. He was currently reading John Bishops profile, he was the leader of the task force and known for his rash and unconventional behavior. The man shouldn’t even be on the project, he was nominated after the former leader had been wounded during a mission.

“Don’t play dumb,” she replied. “Your ex-fiancé is working for Homeland and we have to investigate, so you are going to meet her. How do you feel about that?”

“Usually that’s my line.” He was still refusing to look Paige in the eye, so he grabbed Marcia Herolds file. She was an expert on Middle East countries and was working with the task force members as well.

“Toby” Paige’s voice sounded demanding, but he refused to react like she wanted to. Suddenly she took the pages of his profile out of his hands.

“Hey?!” When he looked up, Toby accidentally made eye contact with Paige. He knew he was busted.

“Listen to me,” she said calmly. “I know how you feel. I was terrified when Drew announced that he was back and wanted to see Ralph. Not only because I didn’t want to confuse my son, but also because Drew had been a complicated part of my past and seeing him again and talking to him brought back a lot of memories. At first I tried to suppress them, but then I realized that everything I did, made me, what I am today. I love being a mother; I have a great job and really good friends. And seeing Drew was like looking at old yearbooks. At first you get really excited and a little bit anxious, but then you put them back in some box with stuff from your past and everything is back to normal.”

Toby looked closely at his colleague. “I totally get it. I know Amy is in my past and I don’t want it any other way, but I’m just …” he suddenly interrupted himself, before he said: “I’m just really pissed.”

“Cause she left you,” Paige said empathetic.

“No,” Toby exclaimed. “Cause everything went so smooth lately. I solved my issues with Walt and now I just wanted to enjoy what life is offering, but when I’m almost perfectly happy, there pops up this reminder of how much I screwed up in the past. And not only I’m confronted with all my failures again, but everyone else will see them as well.”

“We’ll get over it,” Cabe suddenly interjected.

“And Happy will too. She knows you by now and nothing will change her opinion about you,” Paige assured him.

After that little talk the drive went on as silent as before. By the time they arrived at the training facility Toby had convinced himself that this was nothing but a normal job and nothing about it would jeopardize his relationship with Happy.


	3. Awkward observations

 

When they arrived at the Homeland building, Emilia Burns, agent Baker’s assistant, led them into her boss’ office. There the team discussed briefly their progress.

“Our software is finished,” Walter reported. “If anyone tries to sell or contribute the information online, we know it.”

“And an automatic tracking process starts immediately to search for the location of the traitor,” Sylvester added.

“Impressive,” agent Baker stated who was a man in Cabe’s age.

Cabe and agent Baker decided to introduce team Scorpion as what they were: Private contractors, who were working with Homeland to solve high risk problems. Their cover story was really simple as well: The newly founded task force would get some scenarios and members of Scorpion would accompany them to show them more effective or unconventional solutions.

During these training scenarios Cabe would work together with Baker’s security personnel and his assistant, while Paige and Toby would collaborate with the medical and scientific staff, who supervised the whole project. All of them would try to gather evidence for potential suspects.

When everyone had put in their coms Cabe announced: “We are ready.”

“Great, I’ll accompany you downstairs where our training sessions are planned. You can meet everyone there and start your work.” Clearly Baker wanted to solve this mess as fast as possible.

During the elevator ride Toby’s inner tension built up again, but he tried to stay calm. Happy didn’t look too relax either, but when they entered a big control center she casually bumped him into the side with her elbow and they smiled briefly at each other.  

Then agent Baker introduced each member of the project and Happy felt thunderstruck when he pointed at _her_. The mechanical engineer didn’t know what she expected Toby’s ex-fiancé to look like, but when she actually saw her she realized one thing in particular: Amy wasn’t like her at all.

The woman was taller than her, had straight, strawberry-blonde hair and a modern cut. She was wearing a silk blouse in some pastel pink color, a tight grey skirt, matching high heels and a little bit of make-up. Her whole appearance was professional, but classy at the same time and her personality seemed open and friendly.    

Happy already assumed that it would be kind of weird to meet the woman he had been fond of for such a long time, but actually seeing her and realizing that they had nothing in common really irritated her. It confused her so much, so that she didn’t even realize that Baker had formed teams and had sent them into different rooms.

Paige recognized that Happy had frozen and touched her shoulder. “Is everything alright?”

Before Happy could squeeze out some random excuse, she said: “I’m not like her at all.”

The other woman smiled friendly. “Maybe that’s the reason why he is into you and not her any more.”

“Or he is just distracting himself from the woman he loved with me, her complete opposite,” Happy mumbled to no one in particular, although Paige could hear her very well.

“No, Happy. That’s unfair.” Paige was a hundred percent sure that Toby was totally in love with his team mate no matter how much she was or wasn’t like his ex. “He really likes you and you shouldn’t compare yourself to her. Such thoughts always end badly.”

“It doesn’t matter,” was all Happy responded before she followed the group she was assigned to.

 

* * *

 

Toby knew he was blowing it already. During the introduction he had been absent-minded, because he had tried to read Amy’s micro expressions. On the one hand it was obvious that she was surprised to see him, but on the other hand she didn’t seem too shocked. Maybe Quincy had told her that Toby was working with Homeland now.

When the task force members, Walter, Sylvester and Happy went into their rooms to solve their individually designed problems Toby positioned himself in front of some screens that showed him all participants at once. He knew Paige would handle Marcia Herolds while he would try to check on the other possible targets.

After some time someone touched his shoulder. Amy was standing besides him with a familiar smile. “Hey, I was surprised to see you,” she said. “You look … good.”

“Not like the gambling world class shrink you remember”, he asked, before he recognized that it sounded kind of aggressive. So he added: “I was surprised to see you too.”

“Look, … Toby,” she started, but he interrupted her.

“Amy, we shouldn’t discuss this right here.” Toby was looking around, recognizing Paige who was observing him closely. “Maybe we could step out for a second and then concentrate on work?”

For an eternity they just stared at each other and Toby thought that she wouldn’t want to talk to him, after all that had happened, but then her face signalized that she would accept his suggestion.

“Yeah, why not,” she admitted and they left the control center. Amy led him to an empty bureau across the hall. Toby took out his com discretely and put it in his jacket. Then he adjusted his hat, like always when he felt really uncomfortable. When the door closed behind them it was kind of awkward. No one was talking at first and then they both started simultaneously:    

“I just wanted to …”

“I want you to know …”

Both let out a tense laugh and looked at each other.

“Ladies first,” Toby decided and made a small gesture with his right hand to signalize her, that she could start.

“I know you wanted to talk to me after we broke up, but I simply couldn’t. You didn’t understand that I needed space to think about you and me and Quincy. And I …” Amy’s voice sounded calm and soothing like he remembered it, but something was different.

Toby did listen to her explanation closely and noted that it wasn’t like he had expected it at all. She wasn’t blaming him for his addiction or his messed up personality. In fact Amy apologized, because she hadn’t been honest with him. And then he got it. She had fallen in love with Quincy long before their relationship had been officially wrecked down. While he had tried to build a steady life for the two of them, she had liked someone else. His attempts at being a good fiancé may have been poorly, but in the end he had tried.

When Amy ended her speech she waited for him to reciprocate, but he was silent. “Tobias, say something!”

He looked at her and Toby saw that she had told him the truth. He finally got that they had never meant to be together. All this years he had fooled himself and her as well. Without even knowing it! He was really relieved and laughed. “I appreciate your honesty and I accept your apology,” he told her honestly. “I also want to apologize, because I was a wreck and I thought that being with you, a well-behaved, collected, smart and classy woman, would make me normal and stable as well, but I was completely wrong.”

“What are you talking about,” Amy wanted to now, but Toby shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter any more,” he realized. “I wish you all the best and I hope you have the life you dreamt of.”

Amy looked rather confused and didn’t know what to say, especially because Toby acted completely relieved and seemed happy.

Tobias M. Curtis was astonished. He was in one room with the woman he once thought he would spend the rest of his life with and she had recently told him that she betrayed him with his nemesis. All he felt was closure. After some rocky road behind him he knew that this chapter of his life was officially behind him. And the only thing he could think of at this very moment was a beautiful, strong-willed, smart and unpredictable mechanical engineer with tiny hamster hands. He swore to himself that he would snog her senseless as soon as he got a chance.       

Toby had the biggest smile on his face when he heard a metallic click from the door behind him. He turned around and saw a red light blinking next to the security door. There also was a small screen near the door saying: “COMPLETE LOCKDOWN”

“Not good,” Toby quoted the woman he thought of seconds ago.


	4. Complete Lockdown

 

Amy tried to open the door with her code, but nothing happened.

“It doesn’t work,” she explained unnecessarily.

Toby didn’t respond. He fished his com out of his pocket and talked to his team members: “Guys, what’s happening?” While he was waiting for an answer he tried to find a backdoor into the security program via the small device next to the shut door.

“Who are you talking to?” Amy sounded confused.

“My team,” he answered abrupt, without looking up from the display in front of him.

“I’ll call the security,” his ex-fiancé told him and dialed the number on her phone. Nothing happened. “It isn’t working.”

“Toby, where are you?” Paige’s voice sounded a little bit uneasy. “I tried to call you on the phone but the network is down.

“I’m in an office across the hall. The door is locked and the whole system shut down,” he answered.

“Can I borrow your phone?” Amy asked Toby still irritated by the situation and his sudden change of behavior.

“The phone’s aren’t working,” he explained briefly and without even looking at her.

“The control center is also on lockdown. The doors are closed and the computer screens went blank minutes ago,” Paige confirmed.

“Someone must have tempered with the system,” Walter assumed. “Maybe our perpetrator is on the run.”

“I hate closed spaces.” Sly’s voice was full of suppressed panic. “I tried to hack the system, but within complete lockdown most of the codes aren’t working.”

“Maybe there is a backdoor we can use,” Walter mumbled. “Cabe? Can you get me Baker’s security code? Maybe we can tell the system that it’s false alarm.”

The line was mute for a minute. No one was talking.

“Cabe?” Walter sounded impatient. “Cabe? Do you hear me?”

Toby didn’t like what was going on. “Happy? Are you there?”

At first the line was dead again, but then he heard a small cough. “Happy? Is that you? Talk to me!”

“I don’t think that this is false alarm.” Toby had never been happier to hear her grumpy voice.

“Happy, what do you mean?” Walter asked.

“I was defusing the bomb right before the system went down. I had a little incident and then the doors locked and the light went out as well.” After her explanation she coughed again.

“What do you mean when you say you were defusing a bomb?” Toby’s voice was a little bit higher than usual and Amy flinched next to him.

“Our task seemed easy at first. We should open a metal box without damaging it to secure the evidence in it. When we were successful we discovered a small bomb, so I tried to defuse it. You would know that, if you had been on the com.”

“What the hell,” Toby swore. “Are you alright?”

“I’m great, part of the bomb went off,” she answered sarcastically.

“Are you injured?” Toby’s mind was listing hundreds of possible injuries that needed to be treated immediately.

“I’m fine,” she responded, but coughing didn’t stop.

“You don’t sound fine,” Toby pointed out. “We have to get you out of there.”

“What do you think I’m doing right now?” By the time Happy was really angry. “I’m in the security system and trying to get access to the surveillance, but the display is broken, so it isn’t a piece of cake, alright.”

“We don’t need surveillance right now,” Sly argued. “We need a way out of this hell.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I know it’s save there,” Happy responded.

“Happy is right,” Walter stated. “We don’t know what is happening in the building right now. At the moment we are separated, but save.”

“What do I have to do to get the cameras working?” Toby searched the menu of the security system.

“Like I said, I’m already on it,” Happy told him.

“Yeah, but you are working on a broken display in a room without light, so maybe letting me take over would be helpful.”

“I can do this myself.” Happy responded like he did several weeks earlier. Toby hadn’t an opportunity to answer.

“Guys! We can sort this out later, when we all are save at the garage,” Paige argued. “We are stuck here and don’t know if Cabe is alright so we get our acts together. Do you understand?”

“YES,” everyone copied that.

“Listen,” Walter demanded “Happy you are going to guide Toby through the system so we can bring the cameras back online. Sly and I are trying to open the doors.”

Several minutes everyone was working according to Walter’s plan.

“The cameras are back online,” Toby announced.

“Some screens are working in here again,” Paige told the rest of the team. “Oh my god!”

“Paige? What happened?” Walter stopped what he was doing and waited for her to respond.

“I found Cabe. He is lying in a hallway and seems unconscious.”

“We have to get to him,” Happy said.

“There is a problem,” and Toby didn’t like it at all. “Happy was right. It wasn’t a false alarm. Baker initiated the lockdown. That’s why you can’t hack the system. His code overrules any command.”

“There must be a way out,” Sly said even tough he didn’t sound convinced at all.

“Maybe, but there is another problem,” Toby was looking at the small screen in front of him. “Do you smell smoke?”

“Smoke?” Paige asked for confirmation. “No, there is no smoke in here.”

“I don’t recognize it either,” both Walter and Sylvester said seconds later.

“There may be some smoke in here,” Happy admitted.

“That’s because there is a fire on the other side of your door. It’s only a matter of time until it spreads and the others are closed in to. We have to get you out of there ASAP.” Toby looked at the camera feed angrily. “Happy, you looked at the blueprints of this building. Are the vents big enough for us to crawl through it?”

“I think so, but they aren’t exactly designed to resist the human bodyweight. There are at least twenty people in here with us in the restricted area, I don’t know if the vents will withstand.”  

“I’m looking at the plans right now,” Sly told them. “We would have to take different routes to disburden some parts of the vents, but we should at least accomplish to get away from the fire. There is also a server room in the other part of the building where we could access the mainframe of the security system; maybe Walter would be able to enable the lockdown from there.”

“But we have to be careful,” Walter reminded them. “As soon as the fire get’s more severe the vents will be filled with smoke. It could be even more dangerous in such a small tunnel.”

“Okay,” Toby said. “Do you all see an entrance to the vents, where you can escape?”

Everyone agreed except Happy. “I have a flashlight, but I won’t be able to reach up to the entrance of the ventilating system.”

“No problem,” Toby answered. “I’ll come and get you. Sly, I assume you memorized the whole plan, you can guide us through the system.”

“Toby, I don’t think it is very smart to crawl near the fire,” Sly explained. “The vents will be filled with smoke sooner than you think. Given the closed room Happy is in and the estimated expansion of the fire you have less than ten minutes to get to her and for the two of you to get at least forty feet away from the source of fire.”

“I could try to get her out before I search for the server room,” Walter offered.

“We need open doors to leave the building and get to Cabe,” Toby reminded them. “And when you are in the server room you could also try to get the sprinklers online so you shouldn’t try to rescue Happy when I’m only a couple of feet away.”

Without any further discussion everyone opened the grids in front of the vents. Toby pushed a desk under the entrance and helped Amy to enter it. “Sly in which direction do Amy, Paige and the other scientists have to go?”

Sylvester gave everyone a detailed instruction.

When Toby also was in the vent he turned to Amy. “You have to follow that corridor. At the next junction you turn left, then right and then left again,” he told her. “You will meet my team mate Paige and your colleagues there.”

“You aren’t coming with me?”, she asked a little afraid of being alone in some dark and closed tunnel.

“No, I have to get Happy,” he answered and before she could reciprocate he turned in the other direction and hurried.


	5. Toby to the rescue

 

Happy was really pissed. This day had gotten worse with every minute.

Meeting Amy had suddenly shaken her confidence and there was little she hated more than feeling insecure about herself. If that hadn’t been bad enough Toby also went to talk to her in private. Happy had wondered what he couldn’t tell Amy while she was listening through the com. This thought had definitely distracted her while defusing the bomb.

Now she was sitting in the dark, while smoke filled the room and waiting for him to finally show up. She hated being stuck. Maybe she shouldn’t have sent the two other task force members out of the room before she had started working at the bomb. Happy was alone and a little bit too short to reach the grid and open it.  

While waiting for Toby she got angrier at him. Jealousy wasn’t a feeling she was used to and couldn’t handle very well. She especially hated that it was her own fault. Letting down her shield had been a stupid idea and falling for him was even dumber.

Her thoughts were interrupted, when she suddenly heard a crack and the metallic grid in front of the vent fell on the ground.

“Here I am,” Toby announced triumphantly. “Doctor Tobias M. Curtis to the rescue.” He was halfway hanging out of the tunnel. The beam of Happy’s flashlight barely reached him through the smoke.

“It was about time,” she grumbled, when she stood up and went in his direction.

“Crawling through vent tunnels is more your expertise than mine,” he remembered her. “Now come here and try to grab my hands. Then you can use your feet to brace yourself and I’ll lift you up.”

Happy didn’t argue, because she didn’t want to talk to him at all, so she followed his instructions. When her hands touched his it was a familiar feeling, but she didn’t want to think about it.

As soon as she was in the ventilation tunnel as well Toby grabbed her face to look at her closely. First he wanted to check if she had any visible injuries and then he wanted to show her how relieved he was to see her again, but she withdrew quickly.

“We have to hurry,” she simply stated and turned into the direction Toby had been coming from.

Sly guided them through the tunnels until they reached an exit near Cabe’s position. Happy was glad that they had left the small vent and hurried to get to the Homeland agent.

Toby sat down next to Cabe and checked his pulse. “It is steady. He is only knocked out. There is a bump on the back of his head.”

“Cabe, wake up,” Happy demanded several times until the man slightly moved his head and began to groan.

“Welcome back in the land of the living,” Toby joked.

“What the hell?!” Cabe exclaimed and tried to sit up.

“Woah, not so fast,” Toby took Happy’s flashlight and checked Cabe’s eyes. “I am pretty sure you have a concussion. You have to move more slowly if you don’t want to pass out again.”

“We have to get Baker, he is on the run.”

“We’ll take care of him later,” Walter promised. “The sprinklers are online and Sly is opening the main exit in a few seconds. We’ll meet up there.”

 

* * *

 

 

Three hours later the whole case was closed and Toby searched the garage to find Happy without any luck. He hadn’t seen her since they left the building and Cabe had called a Homeland unit who caught Baker at LAX. Sly had found the online ticket on Baker’s laptop so it was quite easy to get to him before he could leave the country. The data he had stolen had been found in his luggage as well.

“Have you seen Happy?” Paige was packing her bag, ready to go home, when Toby approached her.

“She practically fled on her motorcycle the minute we stopped at the garage,” she answered him.

“I’m going to give her a call,” Toby responded and grabbed this phone.

“Maybe you should give her time to cool off,” his team mate suggested. “It was an intense day.”

“We handled much more complicated cases in the past. She shouldn’t be that affected by this one.”

“I don’t think the case is the reason why she is affected,” Paige told him.

Toby looked at her a little startled. “What du you mean exactly?”

Paige rolled her eyes. “You know very well what I mean.”

“I know I didn’t do my job very well today. She was in danger because of me. I should have been in the control room to help handling the situation, but I wasn’t. But I saved her after all. That should count for something.”

Paige realized that he felt responsible for what happened, but she was amused by the fact that the world class behaviorist didn’t get that the woman he was into had been damn jealous half of the day. “Happy can handle dangerous situations. That’s not was all this is about.”

“Now you really lost me,” Toby confessed.

“Please, Toby,” she rolled her eyes again. “You met your ex-fiancé today for the first time since you split up.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with Happy,” he claimed. “She has never been interested in what happened between me and Amy.” Thank god.

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled knowingly at Toby. “Maybe something has changed.”

He looked suspicious at Paige, trying to figure out what she knew about them and their newly started relationship.

“I’m not oblivious like Walter or Sylvester,” she reminded him, but when she recognized the bewildered look on his face she changed the topic a little. “Look, Toby. I don’t know what’s going on between Happy and you exactly, but there is one thing I know.”

“And that is?”

“I know that you are completely into her, you never made a big secret out of it. But Happy isn’t like you. She isn’t open with her feelings and I am pretty sure she doesn’t want anyone to think of her as vulnerable.”

“Happy is the strongest and most independent woman I know,” he agreed.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that she is free of insecurities. All people have them from time to time. Every one of us has to cope with them at some point.”

“Let me get this straight,” Toby said. “You are telling me that Happy Freaking Quinn is feeling insecure because of Amy and the fact that I met her again?”

Paige simply looked at him, waiting for him to see the truth as well.

“That’s the most stupid thing I ever heard!”

“That’s love,” she whispered, when Toby left her alone, while she watched Walter who was sorting through some stuff on his desk.

Paige looked at him for a moment until Walt recognized her glare and asked: “Is something wrong?”

“No, everything’s alright,” she assured him. “I’m heading home. Ralph is waiting for me.”

“Have a good evening,” he said still looking at her.

“Good bye, Walter,” she responded with a friendly smile, before she went to the exit.

Walter was still looking at the closed door minutes after she had left.


	6. Being honest

It didn't help at all. After Happy had left the SUV at the garage she had decided to clear her mind by driving through LA on her motorcycle. Sometimes she did that, when she wanted to get away from everything - even from her work. Normally the focusing on driving and the feeling of freedom to go wherever she wanted to helped to calm her and after some hours on the road she could renter the “normal world” by stopping by at her father’s shop or meeting Toby at Kavelski’s.

But this time it was different. After three hours of mindless driving she found herself back at the garage. The place was empty and she appreciated it that way. Happy went straight to her workspace not even glancing at the desk Toby was using everyday. She slammed her bag in the corner of her own desk and started to form some metal for a new project.

Working with hard metals always was relaxing to her and starting a new project also gave her a nice feeling of excitement. After half an hour she had ruined three different sets of material and shot her hammer on the ground. “Damn,” she exclaimed and stormed to the staircase that led to the roof.

She needed air. Happy took some deep breaths in and looked at the city in front of her. It was late and LA seemed kind of quiet and peaceful. But inside of her was still raging a storm. Feelings she couldn’t express and old fears of being left alone kept her mind going. She shut her eyes tightly and tried to bottle all this unwanted thoughts back up. She had done it a hundred times before, why not now.

“I called you, but you didn’t answer,” a calm voice behind her told her.

She sighed. “And you still don’t get the message,” Happy responded without turning around.

Toby stared at her back. Her whole body was tense and her tone of voice signalized that she didn’t want to talk as well. He ignored it, and stayed where he were. “I get that you don’t want to talk to me – or anyone – but I don’t understand why.”

“You don’t need to shrink me,” she said while crossing her arms, and her voice sounded even a little bit colder than before.

“I’m not you psychiatrist,” he clarified. “I’m here because I’m your …”

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence, because she abruptly turned around, looked totally mad at him and spitted: “You are nothing to me!” The tears glistening in her eyes revealed the blunt lie.

For a moment he looked like she had slapped him in the face, but then Toby instinctively knew that her next move would be escape, but he wouldn’t allow that. Without any hesitation he approached her, pulled her close and kissed her like his life was depending on it.

He expected her to withdraw and at first she didn’t really seem into the kiss, but after a heartbeat she gave in and kissed him back with all the anger and fear that had shaken her confidence. Toby groaned when he felt her near him and deepened the kiss, but suddenly she broke their connection and took a step back.

She was looking at him, trying to say something, but he indicated her not to. “Happy, I know I’m messed up and sometimes it’s hard to put up with me and you are clearly mad at me, but I beg you don’t say that I’m nothing to you. It kills me.”

She took a deep breath, and then she said: “Toby, look. We shouldn’t make this more complicated than it is. We have been friends for a long time now and that means something to me. Lately we fooled around a little bit and it was nice, but we should concentrate on what really matters.”

“And what does really matter to you?” Toby wanted to know.

“The team and our friendship,” she managed to say. “So I believe we should go back to normal again.”

Toby looked like she had slapped him again. He watched her for some time, before he answered: “I can’t go back to normal. I can’t go back to being just friends with you.” He seemed really upset. “I barely managed pretending month ago and I am pretty sure I won’t be able after everything that happened.”

“Please, we are not the first adults who fooled around and decided to stay friends afterwards,” she was desperate to convince him and afraid of him agreeing at the same time.

“I wasn’t fooling around,” he told her honestly. “I made love to you. Cause I’m absolutely and irreversible, madly in love with you. And if you don’t reciprocate on any level, I have to accept that, but for me it will never be the same again, because now I know how awesome we are together. There is no coming back from that.”

He waited for her to say something, but when she wasn’t even looking him in the eye he turned around, ready to leave.

“Why?” It wasn’t more than a whisper in the night, but he heard it.

He spun around. “Cause I’m not some machine you can turn off or rebuild if you don’t like it the way it is…”, he was ready to explain a lot more but she shook her head.

“No, I want to know why me.” Her beautiful eyes showed an unusual vulnerability. “I’m nothing like her at all.”

“Like who?” Toby stated the question without even thinking, but then he realized. “Amy?” He went closer to her again and started to stroke her arms. He didn’t know if he did it to calm her or to make sure this wasn’t a dream.

“Yeah, _her_ ,” she confirmed. “I never thought about it, but when I met her today it was obvious. I’m nothing like her at all.”

“Yes, you are right,” he agreed. She immediately tried to increase the distance, but he didn’t let her. “I can’t deny the fact that you aren’t alike.

“So you admit that you try to distract yourself from her with me.” She wished that that wouldn’t bother her so much.

He suddenly laughed, but when he saw Happy’s reaction he abruptly stopped. “Oh my goodness, is Happy Quinn really jealous?”

“It’s not funny,” she told him defensively.

His lingering smile got bigger again. “No, it’s great!” He saw that she didn’t feel the same way and decided to clarify. Toby was afraid like hell, but if he really wanted that relationship between them to work he had to be completely honest. “I’ll tell you about Amy and me.”

“I don’t know if I want to hear that,” she told him.

On the one hand he felt glad because Happy cared so much about him that she even felt jealousy because of his ex-fiancé, but on the other hand he was afraid of letting his guard down completely.

“But I’m certain you need to hear it, trust me,” he said and waited for her to agree. When she did Toby told her: “When I met Amy I was young and I was attracted to her,” Happy flinched, but he was still gently stroking her arms, so she stayed. “I had this urge to get everything my parents couldn’t give me as a child. I wanted to be a psychiatrist to help them, but I also wanted to be successful and have a stable relationship. Amy symbolized this picked fence dream for me. I thought if I could make it work with her, I would never be alone and proof everyone that I’m nothing like my parents.”

Happy saw how much it had cost him to say all this things out loud and simply wanted to end this whole drama, but she also realized that he needed to get that off his chest.

“I’m an idiot,” he went on.

“Nothing new to me, doc,” she agreed with a tiny smile on her face.

“I tried so hard to make it work, that I didn’t realized how stupid it – I – was.”

“Now you are a little bit hard on yourself,” she interrupted. “There is nothing wrong about trying to do it right.”

“No, there is nothing wrong about that, but I didn’t see the obvious. Amy wanted someone stable, career-driven, well-mannered. She wanted Quincy. That’s what she told me today, when we were in that office.” Happy wanted to interrupt, but he signalized her not to. “It doesn’t matter any more; I screwed up our relationship as well so I can’t blame her, and especially because I’m so much happier now than I was then.”

“You are?” She sounded surprised.

“I told you the truth last week. I have never been happier in my life and if you like it or not you are one of the reasons why.” Toby thought that that would be the perfect moment for a romantic kiss under the stars, but Happy wasn’t ready yet.

“That wasn’t an answer to my question,” she noted. “Why me?”

“Now you are fishing for compliments,” he accused her.

“Okay, if we are completely honest here,” she started. “You aren’t the only one with a messed up personality, so I wonder what could possible attract you about that.”

Now he really was laughing and he pulled her closer. “Happy Quinn, you are the most amazing woman I ever met. Like I told you already you are smart, capable and sexy as hell. Being with you is exciting and comforting at the same time. You always ground me and I love spending time with you,” he could go on like that for decades she realized pleasantly surprised and stopped him with a heated kiss.

They embraced each other on the roof and shared the most passionate kiss in history. When they both needed to breathe again Toby looked relieved. “So is it safe to assume that I’m not that bad myself?”

“Like you said you are an idiot and barely tolerable sometimes, but you are mine, doc.”

“Not as eloquently as I wished, but I take what I get,” he joked and tried to kiss her again but she put her hands on his chest to stop him.

“Is there something else,” he wanted to know.

“Yeah,” she looked him deep in the eyes. “It was a long day, let’s go home.”

“Together?” The question was full of hopes and promises.

“Together.”


End file.
